Silent Cries
by nicegal1
Summary: Noctis is now working at the Mental Facility not to far from him. Lightning, one of the many mental patients that is now a selective mutism, but when Noctis comes along, will she have the strength to speak up and tell her tragic story? AU NXL
1. Chapter 1

**Silent Cries**

**A/N: Hey everyone!1 I have a new story! *sings* JK, anyways, yes a new one with Noctis and Lightning! Yeah, and well this is different from the usual ones I have written. I know you're all probably thinking I'm stupid for doing another fic, when I have 3 others to do. But hey, what can you do, I have ideas in my head and really want to let them out! Anyways, Ive had this idea in my head for sooooo long its crazy how long ive kept it waiting! And now here it is….written and ready! Hahaha, I really hope this one goes good to! Ive researched most of the stuff for this and whoosh, I think its ready! So enough talk, I present chapter 1 of Silent Cries!**

**Special thanks to Serfia13 for editing and fixing everything up! You are seriously the best! This story is going to be edited only by you! Thanks so much for your help!**

**Chapter 1**

_**Encounters**_

"Try not to let your guard down; some of the patients will take advantage of it if the opportunity presents itself. Is that understood, ?" His new employer, Jihl Nabaat, stood before him in a pressed long white coat, waiting for his answer.

Noctis Caelum politely nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." He was anxious to begin his first internship at the Mental Institute for the mentally unstable, for it was his desire since he was young to help people. He knew how hard and tiring that a mental disorder could be for a person and their families from first hand experience. Even though Noctis was only nineteen, he made the decision to help others to help ease their suffering ... It was hard for him to see ...

"Good." Noctis snapped out of his pensive state and returned his attention back to Jihl. "Now then, try not to wear bright or intimidating colors, some of the patients would get uncomfortable or even try and hurt you. So please ..." Jihl gave him a skeptical look before continuing. "Try and stay to something simple."

"Yes, Ma'am." Noctis looked around and noticed the white, colorless walls. The place had no color whatsoever, so he wasn't too surprised as to why she told him that. Not that he minded. He usually wore black to begin with. But in this place, he probably stood out dressed as he was: a silverish-blue uniform which was in contrast to the gray uniforms that the other orderlies wore, so it wasn't hard to tell that he was new.

"You can start tomorrow, for now, I'll introduce you to your patients. You will be attending to three of them: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. Each patient has different disorders and different needs. I trust that you can handle this?" Jihl asked with a raised eyebrow.

Once again Noctis nodded and maintained eye contact as Jihl pulled the file out that was tucked under her arm and handed to him. "All the information about your patients is in there. I suggest that you memorize it and study it well before you start tomorrow."

Noctis graciously took it and began to skim through it. There wasn't much to look at for the file was small. He closed it and looked at Jihl with the intent of asking her a question. However, before he could ask his question, she spoke again. "If you will, please follow me."

_Geez, this woman isn't even letting me talk ..., _he thought to himself as he followed her down the narrow hallway. Pushing the thought aside for now, Noctis reopened the file looked over the information for his first patient. 

_Name: Oerba Dia Vanille_

_Age: 15 years old_

_Sex: Female_

_D.O.B: April 17 1995_

_Years in the institute: Four years. _

_Mental Disorder: Anorexia Nervosa and small case of Bipolar Disorder._

_Bio: Ms. Oerba has been one of the needier patients. She refused to eat four years prior her entrance into our facility. Thus, extra care is needed in what is said to her. She has an overactive imagination, and can be very manipulative. Make sure she eats all of her meals and that she doesn't try to get rid of it in any way. Her emotions are unpredictable, so be prepared for emotional outbursts. _

_Family: Distant cousin who visits during breakfast and early morning hours. _

_Food of choice: Anything soft and easy to chew. _

"Well, here we are." Jihl came to a stop in front of a large silver door.

After looking over the small notes, Noctis took in his surroundings and hoped that he would remember the way to his patients tomorrow. Returning his attention to the door, it looked rather thick, which would make it impossible to get in or out. Jihl took out a small key card and swiped it through a small scanner on the side of the door. With a raised eyebrow, Noctis thought, _Security's pretty tight here._

Slowly, the door opened and she motioned for him to enter. "Try not to startle her." Noctis nodded and slowly stepped inside, Jihl was right behind him.

As his eyes scanned over the rooms surroundings, he noticed how plain it really was. The only things that the room had were a bed, sink and toilet; nothing more, nothing less. Noctis looked toward the corner and saw a petrified teenage girl. She wore what any other patient was to wear: a white t-shirt, matching Capri pants, and white cotton shoes. Her hair was the only bright and colourful part of the room, which happened to be pink and tied back into two low pig-tails. Well, at least he no longer felt like he stood out in this place with her hair so naturally colorful.

Jihl cleared her throat. "Vanille, don't be scared, we're not here to make you eat anything. As long as you had today's breakfast and a bit of your lunch …"

Vanille nodded and slowly detached herself from the safety of the corner. "W-who's this?" She pointed toward Noctis and frowned.

A warm smile suddenly appeared on Jihl's face – it was an expression that surprised Noctis, Ms. Nabaat seemed so cold and professional while she spoke to him – and she said, "He's your new supervisor. He'll be with you throughout the morning and making sure that you eat properly."

A hesitate smile was on Vanille's face and she nodded. "I see …" Then, and quite suddenly, she perked up as if nothing was bother her and grabbed his hand, shaking it with excitement. "Hi there! My name is, Oerba Dia Vanille! Nice you meet you mister …?"

"Noctis will do," he said and smiled while shaking her hand.

"Noctis ...?" The young teen looked bemused for a moment but she immediately smiled. "What a strange name ... but alright! Nice to meet you …, Noctis!"

He faintly caught her exotic accent and smiled at her, she didn't seem so bad.

"I hope you're not like the last guy ... he practically shoved food in me ..."

The pout that Vanille gave him was so adorable – it was a look that he'd expect from a younger girl, not from a teen not much younger than he was – that it caused Noctis to chuckle. "I promise I won't shove food in you. But can you promise me that you'll eat your meals?"

Vanille stopped and a thoughtful smile slowly crept across her face. "We'll see … If you're nice enough ... I might consider it!"

Noctis laughed nervously and smiled. "Then I'll be as nice as possible."

"Okay, Vanille, that's enough, you'll see him tomorrow … off to bed now." Jihl said in a soft but commanding voice.

Vanille nodded and pranced off to her bed; she sat cross legged on top of it and waved. "See you tomorrow!"

Noctis waved goodbye and left the fifteen-year-old alone.

"Well then, you seem to be on good terms with Vanille, but let's see if you can do the same with the next patient." Jihl smirked and adjusted her glasses.

_She's back to that cold and professional attitude, _Noctis thought as he watched her smooth out wrinkles that were on her coat. As they began to walk away from Vanille's door, Noctis followed and reopened the file.

_Name: Hope Estheim _

_Age: 14 years old_

_Sex: Male_

_D.O.B: December 13 1996_

_Years in the institute: Eight years. _

_Mental Disorder: Un-named - being studied. Has a small case of Nightmare Disorder. _

_Bio: At the age of three Hope's mental development suddenly stopped. His mind stopped maturing at normal pace, thus leaving him in uncategorized situation. This now renders him with the mind of a three-year-old. It's best to treat him as a child for now. Physically his body is fourteen, while mentally he is three-years-old. Hope is not as needy as others, but when he is frustrated, it can get out of hand. If the case happens to arise when he is upset, he can be capable of violent actions. Try and comfort him if it happens. Distracting him is also advised. _

_His nightmare disorder developed two years prior to his entrance here. Night shifts, be wary that he will get out of hand from time to time, but only when he is sleeping. Do not fear, it's only a small case of Nightmare Disorder and he shall fall back asleep within a few minutes after being comforted. _

_Family: Mother and Father: alive. Mother visits every single day, even during evening hours. _

_Food of choice: Anything. _

"Poor kid …," Noctis mumbled. He closed the file and quietly followed Jihl. They stopped at a silverish-blue door and he peered through the window. There sat a fourteen-year-old with a person that Noctis assumed was the boy's mother, but instead of doing what a regular teen would do, he was playing with building blocks and toy trucks. There was a content smile on his face as he played with the children's toys. Noctis almost felt sorry for the kid; having to think like a three-year-old for most of his life ... "Has he shown any signs of improving?"

"None so far …" Noctis felt sickened with the lack of sympathy that he heard in Jihl's voice as she slid her key card through another scanner. Once the door was unlocked, Jihl stepped inside and Noctis followed. Hope and the woman behind him looked up at them. Jihl beckoned the mother over and whispered a few words in her ear. The woman gasped slightly and both hurriedly went outside. "Noctis, take care of him. I'll only be ten minutes." And with that Jihl left the two males alone.

Noctis turned and faced the small teenager who was in front of him. "Hi …" Was all he could muster. Hope, like any other patient wore the same thing that Vanille wore. Well, maybe not. Noctis' eyes caught sight of numerous small plastic bracelets on his wrists. Noctis also took note of Hope's hair, which was a bright silver color and his eyes were as green as lush fields of grass. Hope stared at him with awe, and curiously crawled over and poked Noctis in the leg.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Hope looked up and smiled at him, got up from the floor, and dusted himself off. "Hi!"

Noctis couldn't help but chuckle at his childish behavior. But that was to be expected of a curious three-year-old, right? He kneeled in front of Hope and smiled. "Hi, what's your name?" he asked, only this time his voice wasn't as forced as it had been when he first said "hi".

An innocent smile with a childish giggle came from Hope. "Hope! My name is, Hope! Who are you!" Hope began to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet to his heels, his arms swung slightly at his sides.

"My name is Noctis." He held his hand out for Hope to take. Hesitantly, Hope took his hand and shook it. After another awkward silence, Hope went back to his business of playing with his trucks. Noctis sighed and looked around his room. It was very different from Vanille's. It was much bigger than he expected to be and it looked like a nursery room. It was still white like the hallways and other areas, but it seemed as if Mrs. Estheim added a mother's touch. Hope hummed while he began to build a tower made out of colorful building blocks.

Noctis knelt down beside the young teen. "Hey, Hope … How old are you?" No sooner than the words had left his mouth, Noctis immediately mentally faceplamed.

Hope looked up from his blocks and joyfully smiled. "Three!" He held up three fingers and stood up. "How old are you, Nocty?"

Noctis chuckled at his new nickname. "Nineteen."

Hope's jaw dropped in amazement. "R-really? You're so old! An old man!" Hope ran to his side and grabbed his hand. "Hey! Wanna play with me! Let's play! Let's play!" Noctis grimaced at the volume of Hope's voice but complied with his request. He was going to have to get use to it anyway, and there was always Mrs. Estheim to help him if he needed it.

After ten long minutes of playing, Jihl came back to retrieve the so-called "old man". After some very loud protests from Hope, Noctis bid his good-byes and left.

"I see that went pretty smoothly, did it not …?" Noctis remained silent, which prompted another question from the blonde woman. "You asked how old he was, didn't you?"

Nervously, he scratched the back of his head and nodded. "I was merely curious about his response."

Jihl smirked and pretentiously said, "It doesn't matter, all of the employees do that as well. But I guess it's just to see if he is actually developing or not."

Noctis nodded his understanding and followed her once more. "So, the next patient is my last one, right?"

"That's right. I suggest you read her file … she's … unique."

Noctis took out his trusty file once more and scanned over the notes on his last patient. 

_Name: Claire "Lightning" Farron _

_Age: 18 years old_

_Sex: Female_

_D.O.B: March 13 1992_

_Years in the institute: Four years. _

_Mental Disorder: Mentally Suicidal, Selective Mutism, Panic Attack Disorder (Rarely occurs), Avoidant Personality Disorder (Rare case) and pain disorder (Rarely occurs). _

_Bio: Special Case. She shows a strong case of Selective Mutism and her suicidal thoughts are quite prevalent. Try not to overwhelm the patient. She can be quite violent if provoked. Though she cannot speak, she is able to clearly show her thoughts and emotions through facial expressions and rare physical actions. Her avoidant personality disorder occurred when she entered the institute, but in her case it's rare for her to show it. Be (wary) new workers, she will avoid you if you provoke the wrong feeling. The panic attacks only occur when she is under severe stress or anxiety. When a panic attack does occur, one must remain calm and sooth her in anyway possible. Keep calm her until she is ready to move on. In the rare case that she doesn't calm down, sedatives must be used. The pain disorder is also a rare case; we believe it developed through her suicidal instability. Unfortunately, if this were to ever happen on any case, date or time, one must take her to her room and call the doctor immediately. Pain disorder occurs in two areas of the body and renders the patient almost immobile. _

_Remain calm around her, if the patient does not respond right away, give her time to get accustomed. One must also practice speech classes with her, as we are trying to restore vocal communication with her. _

_Family: Mother and Father: deceased. Younger sister: attending high school, visits every second day of the week and resides with distant cousins._

_Food of choice: Anything sweet, sour and soft. Preferably sweet. _

After reading the file, Noctis frowned. "Poor girl … so much …"

"Problems?" Jihl finished for him. "It's nothing, the rare cases are rare ... She only developed them after her third suicide attempt."

Slowly, Noctis closed the file. "Third attempt?" He couldn't believe that someone who was a year younger than he was had tried to kill herself three times already.

"Yes, it's sad really. She gave up on life too easily and too early. And now look at her; she's stuck in place where she cannot leave without risking her safety or the safety of others. More or less, the lesser occurring disorders have been getting better. However, we wish that she would put more effort into speaking when spoken to."

"What happened to her?"

"We're not sure. Not even her sister knows what happened to her. After the first attempt we sent her to some councilors. The second attempt, however, occurred during school hours …" She paused and took out her key card. "We were forced to put her under close watch. And the third time … well, let's just say she can't even leave her alone with plastic utensils."

Noctis furrowed his brows and frowned. He still couldn't believe that someone so young had given up on life. Sure, he had his share of hardships ... and had those thoughts, but everyone had them and pushed past them. It sadden him immensely to think that ...

"This is her ..." Jihl sighed when they stopped in front a red-chromed door. This, out of all of the other rooms, was the biggest room he'd seen thus far. On the side was a huge, two-way window. Noctis stole a small glance at his last patient and his heart literally stopped. She was so breath taking but looked so lonely all at once. She sat in the corner of her room on a bolted down metal chair listening to her ipod, and bobbing her head up and down. Her hair was the brightest strawberry blonde he'd ever seen. She wore a white tank top instead of a t-shirt, white tight knee high shorts, and white sneakers. She had bandages on her wrists and even on her ankles. _I that hope those are just scars ..._

"Don't worry, they're only scars. She hasn't cut herself in a while …," Jihl suddenly said, almost as if reading his mind.

Noctis made a soft "mmm" sound. "When was the last time that she cut herself?"

Jihl took a small clip bored that hung from the side of the window and began to scan the papers. "Six months ago." Ms. Nabaat stopped and flipped though more papers. "Good. She's already eaten and taken her speech classes, would you like to meet her today or tomorrow?"

"Today … if it's okay."

Jihl hesitated for a moment before taking her card out and sighed. "No, not at all. Go a head …" She handed him the key card and encouraged him to go in.

The hesitation that Ms Nabaat suddenly showed stirred Noctis' curiosity. "You're not coming?"

"Heavens no. She'd go berserk if it was me ..." She pointed toward the lonely teen. "She hates me ... literally."

Noctis found this amusing, that a professional such as Ms. Nabaat would be hesitated to see a patient and he chuckled. "Why?"

She shrugged once. "Not sure, and I don't have the time to find out. Now, hurry up … we need to go over some rules and regulations." Noctis hurriedly scanned the card and stepped inside.

The moment he set foot into the room, the air immediately went cold. _Was the A/C on full blast?_ Noctis wondered as he shivered slightly and scanned the contents of the room. Soft, thick fabric lined the walls, while soft carpeting and even the back of the door was assembled with the soft, thick fabric. It also had a normal bed, but it was bigger than the other ones he'd seen so far. The bathroom was in a separate room; at least they considered her privacy in someway. He saw in two corners of the room had wall-mounted cameras. Which mean made sense if she was under consent watch. He scanned the area once more and saw that she had a small personal library, a metal desk - which was also bolted to the floor - and some papers and pencils. _Wait ... she's suicidal, couldn't she just ..._

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice that Lightning was staring at him with curious blue eyes. Feeling as if someone was watching him, Noctis turned and in an instant their eyes met, and Noctis felt something within him stir. It was a weird feeling for him. Lightning stood up from her chair and removed her headphones from her ears. Casually, she threw them on her bed and grabbed a note pad and black pen. She held them to the side as she scanned him from head to toe. Slowly, she began to write on her paper and showed it to him. "_New?_"

Being caught with his guard down, something that Ms. Nabaat had warned him about, Noctis found himself dumbstruck. All he could do was nod and force out a "Yeah…"

She wrote again and handed him the paper. "_Welcome to hell …_"

"Uhh … thanks?"

"_You're welcome …_"

As the uncomfortable exchange continued, Noctis regained his bearings. "I'm Noctis. I'll be your new supervisor."

Lightning blinked a couple times and wrote once more. "_Great … good luck …_"

Slightly puzzled by what she wrote, Noctis gave her a bemused look, but she returned the same expression to him. She rolled her eyes and headed for her bed; she sat on the edge and motioned for him to follow. Noctis complied and sat slightly too close for her comfort. She wrote once more. "_You think I'm crazy, huh?_"

"No … just … what's the word …"

She nudged him to look at her paper. "_Looking for attention?_"

Noctis chuckled after reading her note. "No, I don't think that ... you're just unique."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "_Whatever. They all say that …_"

Then, the door was opened and Ms. Nabaat's called to him. "Time to go, Noctis …, leave the little attention seeker alone …"

Lightning snared at Jihl and threw her pen at her. Noctis quickly grabbed her by the wrists and held them behind her. Though Lightning made no further protests, she sent Jihl murderous glares. "It's okay, don't worry. I don't think she understands …," he said softly into her ear, trying to sooth her. After he spoke those words, Lightning calmed down slightly and nodded.

Noctis let go of her and made his way towards Jihl, leaving Lightning on her bed. He looked back and smiled at her. "See you tomorrow!"

Lightning merely waved and hid her face behind her bangs.

**To be continued in Chapter 2**

**A/N: There that's it! I really hope its alright and I can get peoples attention with this! Like I said I thought this through and then Sefira helped me with even better ideas! Yeah! So anyways, if all goes well and I get some good feedback and reviews, then chapter 2 shall be up in no time, if not then, im aiming for weekly updates either way! Hahaha review though! I want to hear ur thoughts!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Silent Cries**

**Chapter 2: First Day**

**Update: 12/26/10: I noticed something, theres about 1 paragraph missing in this fic! D8! No worries I fixed it now, it makes way more sense :D!**

**A/N: Well Merry Christmas everyone! My gift to you is, chapter 2 of silent cries!YAYYY! So ill tell you how long this was on my word Doc thing, it is about 16 pages with size 10 of font. Pretty long right? I hope so, my beta had quite the time doing this chapter. Though this has to no relation to the holiday what-so-ever, my beta finished on a very awesome day no! With that said, I'd really like to thank everyone who reviewed this, and alerted this story and even faved it! It meant the world to me to know that you want this story to continue! So thank you for that everyone! Its really wonderful to read all these reviews! **

**Special thanks to: Sefira13 for everything done on this story! You rock! I could just hug you if u lived near me, But you don't *sad face* but emailing is just fine *happy face*! **

**Thanks to these reviewers who took the time to say something: **

**zenbon zakura, burning phoenix x-7, **

**Soz766, "G", sazooki, jenny, kaida ryu, anonymous(person with no name), sasusasku-eienai**

**Fujingodofwind, anthropophagicopropheliac, aria1827 and leonheart-92!**

**YOU MADE MY DAY!**

**BEGIN!**

**

* * *

**

After a long day, Noctis wasn't able to get any sleep last night when he returned home. He found himself tossing and turning in bed for what seemed like hours – in reality it was only an hour – before he finally got out of bed and wondered about the house aimlessly. He didn't know if his sudden case of insomnia was caused by excitement or if he was just nervous. It would be his first day working at the Mental Institute, however, all he could think about was Claire "Lightning" Farron. His aimless wondering brought Noctis to the kitchen, where he found himself anxiously pacing about it in the early morning hours, as the sun slowly rose in the sky and painted the clouds beautiful hues of pink, orange, and red.

Noctis stopped his pacing for a moment and thought about possible things to keep his mind busy. He could listen to some music, but as soon as the thought came to him, Noctis dismissed it. Even if he listened with the volume on low, he knew that his roommate would hear it and bitch him out for waking her up. So that wouldn't do ... While Noctis was thinking, his dark eyes settled on the romance novel that his roommate had left on the table. He entertained the thought of reading the romantic mush for a moment before he pushed that aside as well. Sure he could read books about metal health for hours but if he tried to read something for entertainment value ... well, Noctis wasn't exactly the best reader in the world. There was nothing he really could do but stare at the tile floor below him.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, chasing away the last remnants of the night, Noctis took a quick glace at the clock that hung on the wall and sighed before he pensively murmured. "Thirty more minutes ..." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head as he thought of a certain strawberry-blonde.

A sudden loud screech cut through the silence and broke his train of thought. "I'm late! _By Etro, I'm late!_" A soft chuckle came from Noctis and his lips curled upward in a small smirk as the sound of frantic foots steps accompanied by loud thuds came from upstairs as his roommate, Stella Nox Fleuret, rushed about in her room. "Noctis! _Why the heck didn't you wake me up?_"

The volume of her voice caused Noctis to grimace and merely shrug. Ignoring her for now, Noctis sat up and headed into the living room that was connected to the kitchen and sat on the couch. He crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. Slowly he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to wonder back to the cause of his insomnia. As her face was beginning to take form in the darkness of his mind, Noctis felt something hard hit him in the back of his head. "_Ow!" _Turning, he instantly raised a hand and rubbed his head._ "What the hell, Stella!_" He looked up and stared at the face of his very pissed off roommate. Her sandy-blonde hair was a tangled mess, her toothbrush was in her mouth, and she was still in her pajamas.

An almost guttural growl came from Stella and she removed the toothbrush. "Don't you dare "what the hell!" me, Noctis Lucis Caelum! Do you have any idea what time it is!"

He visibly twitched when she called him by his full name. Turning away from her, Noctis groaned in frustration, leaned back, and rested his head on the couch cushion. "Yes, Stella, I'm aware of the time …"

"Well then, why didn't you wake me up? I'm running late now!" With her toothbrush firmly back in place in-between her teeth, Stella dashed into the kitchen and quickly came back with her purse in hand.

When she stopped in front of him with an indignant look on her face, Noctis couldn't take her snotty attitude any more and snapped. "Well, excuse me ... But is it my fault that you and _Lover Boy _stayed up all night having phone sex?"

This caused Stella's face to glow a bright crimson hue as she stared at her friend. "_What_! We were not having phone sex! We were talking about wedding plans!" Stella exclaimed, going on the defensive.

"Is that so?" Noctis smirked and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "Then how is it that I heard you moan all night?" Stella opened her mouth to protest this, but Noctis continued on unfazed and didn't give her a chance to mount a full defense. "Just so you know ... I was awake half the night, so there's no need to lie to me or to yourself."

Stella's mouth remained opened as she tried to utter a witty comeback. After a few moments of silence passed, she scowled at him and dashed for the stairs, yelling curses under her breath all the way. Noctis slightly laughed and shook his head, wondering why he was living with her. Sure they were best friends and knew each other since parents had even planed for them to be married when they were older, to which Noctis was worlds grateful when those plans fell apart, because Stella was more sister than love, and their birthdays weren't too far from each other; basically they were like twins, but they were completely opposite from each other.

On one hand, Stella was the hyper one, happier, and more optimistic about things. She dressed in white and wore bright colors; while Noctis on the other hand, was calm, collected, and rational about everything. He also loved to wear dark and plain colors. And the differences didn't stop there, Stella loved sweet food, while Noctis was always preferred something spicy and little salty. She was messier and unorganized while Noctis knew where everything was like the back of his hand. And out of the two of them, Stella was the far better reader.

But Stella had something that Noctis didn't have. It was the able to keep a stable relationship. Stella was able to fall in love and stay in love, while Noctis ... well, he wasn't very lucky with the ladies. Sure he had his fair share of relationships, but they never lasted long. Noctis envied her for that, but of course Stella would deny it and start naming her own flaws. This gave him a small sense of courage, but he just spent most of his time trying to study the human mind and help others in anyway possible.

In what seemed like forever, Stella finally came back down stairs with her work clothes on. She wore a white elegant fabric blouse, a white knee length skirt, and to top it all off she had on white high-heel pumps. Her hair was tied back into a tight bun with a few loose strands of hair which she pushed back with white butterfly clips. She looked at herself in the closet mirror and smiled with satisfaction. Then she looked at Noctis and raised a delicate brow. "Black? Don't you have anything other than black in that closet of yours?"

Noctis briefly looked down at his own clothing and shook his head. "No. Besides, I can't wear anything too bright or colourful."

Stella stuck her right hip out and rested her hand on it while she gave him a skeptical look. "Why? Are the 'mentally unstable' going to hurt you if you do?"

Dark brows slightly twitched when she said that and Noctis distastefully frowned at her. "Patients, they are called patients, Stella, and yes, they could. I might make them uncomfortable."

"Whatever." Stella rolled her eyes. "I still don't get why you're even working there ... You'd think after everything that you went though-"

"Just stop it, Stella!" Noctis stood and looked Stella dead-on in the eyes. "Why can't you just support me in this?"

Stella furrowed her brows and frowned, casting her gaze upon the floor. "Listen, Noctis, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it … it's just … you never know when they can turn on you and well ..."

Noctis sighed and approached her with a gentle smile. "Stella, I know what you're worried about, but I'm trained for this. I know what to do if someone gets out of hand. You're just going to have to trust me on this …" He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Stella nodded and gave him a small smile. "Okay … just be careful ... I don't want anything happening to my 'maid of honour' before the wedding!"

It was Noctis' turn to roll his eyes at her. _Maid of honour ... Ha! She must be kidding ... That's a woman's roll, _he thought as he stepped around her and went into the closet, bringing out his black leather jacket and Stella's white one as well. He handed it to her and checked his pockets for the keys. "I told you already ... I'm not being the maid of honour, that's a girl's position …"

A soft, coy smile swept across Stella's face and she lightly chuckled. "But I want you to be! Come on, it'll be great!"

"Tch ..." Noctis scowled at her and went for the door. "No-way-in-hell."

Stella crossed her arms across her chest and stuck her bottom lip out. "Oh you'll see! I'll convince you somehow!" With that Stella followed Noctis out of the house and they both went their separate ways.

* * *

Noctis smoothed out the wrinkles on his new long lab-coat and let out a drawn-out sigh; he still wasn't sure if he was excited or nervous. He grabbed his files from yesterday off the bench that was near him and skimmed through them once more. There was one detail that stuck out in his mind, just who in the world was he interning for? He didn't get a chance to meet the doctor and he knew for a fact that it wasn't Jihl ... Scanning over the papers Noctis finally came across a name: Dr. Leonhart. Well, at least he had a name now... but that still didn't really tell him anything about the doctor. Slowly he closed the files and tucked them under his arm; he planned on bringing them in case he forgot anything important.

Exiting the locker room, Noctis headed for his first patient, Oerba Dia Vanille. As he walked down the hallway toward her room, he prayed that she was in a good mood today and actually had something to eat or that she was willing to eat. Soon enough he found himself in front of Vanille's silver door. He inhaled quickly and exhaled slowly in an attempt to calm his jittery nerves. He took out a small blue key card from his coat pocket and scanned it through.

Cautiously he took a step inside, opened the door wider, and scanned the room to find not only Vanille but another person inside with her. He grabbed the clip bored that was hanging outside beside the door and fully stepped into her room. The teen's guest stared at him, while Vanille's face instantly brightened as he waved toward her.

Seeing the bright smile that she wore and her relaxed figure, Noctis happily said, "Good morning, Vanille."

"Good morning, Noctis!" Vanille enthusiastically jumped to feet and greeted him. "I'd like you to meet my cousin! Her name is, Oerba Yun Fang!" Just as quick as she was at his side, Vanille turned and hurriedly went over to the corner where Fang stood and pulled her forward. Vanille's step was happy and bouncy; however, Fang on the other hand didn't look so happy but she went along with Vanille's wishes.

With a kind – however small – smile, Noctis held his hand out. "Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Oerba."

"Tch ..." Noctis immediately noticed that Fang was slowly eyeing him, more than likely trying to sum him up if he was a good person to look after her cousin. After a moment of silence, Fang finally said, "Ms. Oerba would be my mother ... Please, just call me Fang."

They shook hands and quickly let go; Noctis was slightly surprised with the amount of strength that Fang used to shake his hand. He also noted that she looked maybe a year or two older than him, her accent was heavier than Vanille's, and her skin was darker than Vanille's as well. They seemed to be quite different from one another in many ways. With Vanilla's shifting emotions and Fang's seemingly stoic nature, Noctis knew that he had to be on his toes with these two. "Fang it is then." He nodded and skimmed through the clipboard.

While he scanned over the almost unreadable handwriting from an orderly, the girls went back to their conversation before he interrupted them with his arrival. After scanning the sheets twice over, Noctis sighed and asked, "When do you take your medication, Vanille?"

Vanille stopped mid-sentence and stared at him as if he'd gone crazy. "Excuse me!" Her voice rose two octaves and rung with clear surprise. "You don't even know when I take my medication!" She placed her hands on her hips and exasperatedly sighed before continuing. "What kind of supervisor are you, huh? You mean to tell me that those bloody bloats put my supervision in the hands of someone who doesn't even know when I take my medication? Just who the hell do they think they are!"

Noctis flinched from her sudden outburst and tried to calm her down. "I'm sorry, Vanille, but your records aren't telling me when you're supposed to take them. If you could please-"

Vanille groaned in frustration and violently waved her hand in the air, as if to bat away his words. "You're all the same, aren't you? All _you _care about is the medication!" Slowly, she began to walk toward him and mockingly said in a high annoying voice, ""Vanille, don't hide the pills under your tongue. Vanille, swallow it, it will make you better." Vanille this, Vanille that, and always with _your_ bloody pills! _Why is it always the pills!_?" Vanille was now only inches away from him and her face was bloated red with anger.

Blinking a few times, Noctis couldn't believe that such a simple questioned triggered her outburst, but he should have known better ... He knew that he stepped into a sensitive area with Vanille. Noctis sighed and turned to Fang for help since she did visit frequently, it was a safe guess that Fang would know how to calm her down.

To his surprise, Fang merely smirked and causally said, "Well, Vanille does have a point. Aren't you supposed to know these things?"

Vanille nodded her head in agreement. "E-x-a-c-t-l-y! All of you doctors are so dense! Why can't I just grow up without all of you in my face about everything! Do this, do that ... Oh no, you can't do this, you can't do that ... And oh, by the way ... what time do you take your meds? I see how it is ... You get to push me around and when you _doctors _forget what time I take my medication ... I'm supposed to tell you? Yeah right ..."

Closing his eyes, Noctis rolled them and inwardly groaned, hoping to Etro that she had taken them ... Then again, if she had taken them and was like this while on her medication ... he dreaded the day that he would see her off of them. Noctis opened his eyes and sighed. "Vanille, give me a break. Since I'm new here, let me off the hook just this once, please?"

"_Why should I_!"

The volume of her voice caused Noctis to flinch. "Because you like me?" It was worth a shot.

Fang and Vanille stared at each other for a brief moment. Out of nowhere Vanille perked up and smiled and Fang began to wholeheartedly laugh. "Of course I do, sweetie! I like your attitude! I'll forgive you just this once!" Vanille happily exclaimed with a wink and walked up to him. Slowly she put her arms around his torso and hugged him.

Noctis now found himself at a lost because of another shift in her emotions and the subtle flirting, that he gave Fang a pleading look. Fang sighed and laughing said, "Okay. That's enough, Vanille. I think you're scaring the poor guy."

Vanille jumped back and smiled. "Haha, sorry! Anyways, when's breakfast?"

"You actually want to eat today?" Noctis asked, returning the smile.

A playful grin swept across Vanille's face. "Well, I did say I would if you were nice, didn't I?"

"Heh, that's what I like to hear, and then hopefully I can find out when medication time is." Noctis paused for a moment and waited for her reaction. When her smile didn't vanish, he began to head for the door and looked back at her. "Is there anything you would like this morning?"

Vanille giggled. "Hm, nope!" She looked at the file that was still tucked under his arm. "It should all be there in the file!" She tucked her arms into the small of her back and slightly leaned forward while she teased him.

"Hm ..." Noctis brought his hand up to his chin and thought, _The file said soft and easy to chew ... _"How about some scrambled eggs, a small bowl of oatmeal, and some orange juice?"

After a long moment of silence, Vanille pressed her lips together and warily said, "Sure ... I could try to eat that, but I'm not promising that I'll finish all of it! But I'll try ... Oh!" She snapped her fingers and turned toward Fang. "Take her with you. I know for a fact that she hasn't had breakfast yet! She's been a bad, bad cousin!"

With a fake scoff, Fang rolled her eyes and playfully glared at Vanille. "I'm not the one who needs it."

"What sort of example are you setting for me if you don't eat your breakfast as well?" Vanille asked, interrupting her.

"I ah ..."

Keeping a placid expression on his face, Noctis tried not to laugh. He cleared his throat and said, "She does have a point there, Fang."

Dark brows furrowed and Fang's expression became stony. "Eh, who was asking you?" She turned and looked at Vanille. "Fine ... I'll eat with you if it means that you can finally leave this stupid place." Fang began to head for the door, but stopped a few steps behind Noctis. "Don't worry, Vanille, I'll get your favorite desert. Now don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

Vanille rolled her eyes at Fang. "Now, what could I possibly do in here?"

"Anything. Now stay put and we'll be back in a few." Fang waved Vanille off and pushed Noctis out of the door.

As they made their way to the cafeteria in silence, and after ten long agonizing minutes, a sudden realization hit Noctis. "You didn't seem too concerned when Vanille suddenly went off-"

"Sorry." Fang interrupted.

"What?"

"It's a joke that Vanille and I do with all the new 'fresh meat'." Fang lightly chuckled and smirked as she continued. "Although, I didn't really expect her to take it as far as she did. And your face ... it was priceless!"

Noctis raised a dark brow. "Ha-ha ... very funny… I'm about to die from the laughter ..."

"Hey, I try! If it makes Vanille smile, then there's nothing I won't do," Fang said with a certain vehemence in her tone and shrugged, which caused her dark bangs to fall across her eyes. Fang quickly tossed her head to the side to get the hair out of her eyes.

As Fang continued to talk about Vanille, it became clear to Noctis that Fang was very protective of her cousin and that she would do anything for Vanille's well-being. And despite her stoic-like nature, when it came to Vanille, Fang talked about her as a proud older sister would.

When they reached the cafeteria, they quickly got into the line. While they waited for the line to move, Noctis scanned the area and noticed that not that many people lingered there. He figured that most of the patients had their meals in-room, since it was easier on both the staff and the patients It was a pity though ... he was hoping that he could catch a glimpse of a certain-.

"So, what exactly is in that file of yours, Noctis?"

"Excuse me?" Noctis blinked a few times as Fang's voice brought him back to the present.

"I said, what's in that file of yours? I mean ... if it doesn't say when Vanille takes her medication ... what does it tell you about her then?

"That you're her distant cousin and that you visit early in the morning and what not." He shrugged and moved forward with the , before he could grab a tray for Vanille, Fang moved forward as well and grabbed two trays. "Is that a problem?"

"No. It's actually quite the opposite," Noctis said with a warm smile.

With a wary expression, Fang titled her head slightly to the side. "How so?"

"Well, your being here means everything to Vanille and that gives her support that she needs to get better. From what I've seen from this place, there's a real lack of sympathy toward the patients. It sickens me that no one is trying to understand them."

Fang whistled at Noctis' statement as a cafeteria worker gave her two helpings of eggs. "Well, aren't you an emotional wreck. Though, you are slightly wrong about that, my friend. There are some people with a heart in this place, and who are caring enough to get to know their patients."

"Hmph, like whom?"

"Vanille's doctor for one, a few of the nurses, and some of the cafeteria staff for another. Outside of her doctor, people are naturally wary of her ... but once they understand her better, it becomes easier for them to open up to her. And of course, there's the bitches of this place."

This caused Noctis to laugh. Between bursts of laughter he said, "Yeah, I think I've met one of them already."

A small chuckle came from Fang and she grinned. "That cheeky, good for nothing nurse, Jihl Nabaat, right?"

"Yeah ... she's got a talent for changing the mood in a room."

"Her only solution is sedation. Any time there's something that she can't handle, it's an instant call for that bloody needle."

Noctis furrowed his brows and the corners of mouth went downward in a distasteful grimace. "That's not very pleasant ..."

"No kidding ... Vanille knows about it first hand, too. Anytime that she has an outburst in front of her, Jihl is never hesitant on knocking her out ..."

"Tch ... How does she expect the patients to trust us if she does that? Our job is to help the patient get better ... not to scare them into getting better ..." Noctis nearly spat the words. It was nurses and doctors like Jihl Nabaat that was also another driving factor in his career of choice.

"Then this might make you smile." Noctis turned and looked at Fang, who now wore a cheeky grin. "Someone once told me that when she tried to sedate one of the patients, she was the one that was sedated. She was out cold for two days." Gleeful laughter erupted from Fang and she had to hold her stomach with both hands. "Man, what I would have given to see that!" she exclaimed between breaths.

Now Noctis wasn't a spiteful person, but he couldn't help but want to see that as well and laughed as he tried to picture Jihl being knocked out by a patient. The thought was almost pleasant.

After they were done getting Vanille's breakfast, Noctis offered to help carry one of the trays for Fang, to which she politely refused and said, "I've got it. But if you insist, you can carry our drinks."

And with that they headed back to Vanille's room to find her happily humming to herself. Noctis sat the drinks on the table that was near the bed after Fang had placed the trays on it, and he waited for her to eat.

Vanille looked at the food and then at the both of them. "That's really too much ... You can't really expect me to eat of it ...?" she whined looking back at the food with a look of uncertainly locked on her face.

Fang merely rolled her eyes and grabbed the fork with a bit of food on it. Before Vanille could dodge her way to safety, Fang wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulled her close, and shoved the fork in Vanille's mouth.

As Fang waited patiently for her younger cousin to swallow the food, Vanille, with a few disgruntled grunts and failed attempts to break free, glared at Fang and reluctantly swallowed the food. Satisfied, Fang continued to do this for the next twenty minutes and soon the plate was empty

As he watched the lovingly forced feeding, Noctis smiled the entire way through. The moment Fang let Vanille go, she turned and shot Fang a look that could kill.

"Right ... Now it's your turn, Fang!" Vanille quickly grabbed a fork from Fang's untouched tray and lunged for Fang, missing her as she easily dodge the attempted grab while laughing the entire time.

Both Vanille and Fang began to bicker about other pointless drabble, which was soon interrupted by a loud thud. Jihl Nabaat stepped inside with a cup of water and a small plastic cup of pills.

"Medication time, Vanille," she said in a monotonous voice.

Noctis frowned and moved from his spot toward Ms. Nabaat. If there was one thing that he could do for Vanille, it was to offer a friendly face instead of the indifferent expression that was locked on Jihl's face. Politely he took the medication and water from her and handed them over to Vanille.

"B-but I hate pills …" She began to slowly edge away from him with a child-like pout on her face.

The expression that was on her face nearly broke Noctis' heart. Slowly he approached Vanille and knelt down in front of her, and with the most comforting tone that he could muster, he said, "It's alright, Vanille. All you have to do is swallow them like this." He mimicked the motion of taking some pills and then drinking some water, and then continued. "You see? It's that easy, dear."

"N-no ..." She vehemently shook her head, causing her pig-tails to sway with the motion. "They give me _really_ bad headaches and they make me so dizzy that it feels as if the world is going to fall away ..." She blinked and a single tear fall from a blue eye.

This was one of the parts that Noctis did not like in the least. But he knew that it would help her get better. "You want to get better, right?"

Vanille slowly nodded.

"You want to go home and have _us _doctors out of your face, right?"

"Yes ..."

"Well, if you take them, you're one step closer to going home and back to a normal life. Isn't that what you want, Vanille?"

After a moments hesitation Vanille nodded once more. "But I have trouble swallowing those pills ... it feels as if I'm going to choke on them ..."

Keeping his voice even and claim, Noctis asked. "You trust me, right?"

"I-I do ..."

"I wouldn't give you anything that would harm you, Vanille. I like you, but I want to see you go home. So you will please take your medication for Fang and I?" The kind, warm smile never once left Noctis' face as he spoke.

Biting back a sob, Vanille nodded. "Okay …"

"Good girl. How about this? Once you're better and free of this place, I promise that I'll take you and Fang out for a welcome back celebration. My treat." He winked and handed her the pills.

Vanille's mood brightened as she hesitatingly took the medication. "You promise?"

"I promise. And I've never once broken a promise." Noctis held his hand out with the cup of water in it.

With a shy smile, Vanille took her medication, washed them down, and gave the cups back to Jihl "I'm holding you up to that, Noctis …"

A warm smile was on Fang's face as she sat herself down in one of the chairs in the room. Jihl left the room with a displeased look on her face and slammed the door. Soon a small beeping noise was heard over the intercom that signaled the end of his shift with Vanille.

"It's time for me to go. I'll see you around." He directed to Fang. "As for you, I'll see you first thing in the morning, Vanille."

"Right! And I'll try not to give you too much of a fuss, Nocty!"

As he was leaving the room, Fang smiled and waved him off; however, before the door fully closed, Noctis heard Fang's voice say, "I think you're in good hands, Vanille."

* * *

Back in the cafeteria for a small lunch break, Noctis sat at one of the many empty tables and began to eat his small meal. Despite the shaky start with Vanille, Noctis was pleased with the way his shift ended with her. His heart truly went out to her. Sure her case might not have been as severe as Hope's or even Lightning's, but that didn't lessen his desire to help her regain some form of a normal life. If he could only help even one of them, that would be one of the best achievements in his young life. It would be even better if he was able to help all three of them in someway.

As he was planning out actives to do with Hope, someone came and sat in front of him. Noctis looked up from his plate and stared at a young man who looked be in his late twenties. His hair was a chestnut brown and his eyes were a blue-gray color. He wore a long white lab-coat over black clothing.

"Noctis Caelum?" The man asked in an even tone.

"Yes." Noctis nodded.

The man held his hand out. "I'm Dr. Squall Leonhart. Informally, Squall is fine."

"Nice to finally meet you, sir." Noctis reached his right hand out, shook his hand, and returned it to his side. "I thought that I would have met you yesterday?"

"Yes ... Unfortunately I had something come up that needed my attention."

That didn't sound good. "Was everything okay in end?" Noctis inquired.

"It was nothing that I couldn't handle." Squall closed his eyes and nodded once. "However ..." He opened them and looked at Noctis. "I'm here to see who's going to be studying under my supervision. How's your morning so far? Vanille didn't give you a hard time did she?"

Noctis smiled, he was impressed with Dr. Squall Leonhart so far. He seemed to be confident, cool, and caring; just the way that Noctis thought that doctors should be. "No. Not really. She's not that bad once you get to know her. Though her emotions are a little hard to keep up with, but I think I can mange."

"That's good to know. Not many of the workers like to stay with her ... It's a shame. However, she is getting better. If she continues to eat what she's given and if her mood swings stay under control, we might release her this year."

Hearing that piece of news, Noctis grinned brightly despite wanting to stay professional in-front of his new mentor. "That's great! She'll be really happy to hear that!"

Squall nodded and leaned back in his chair. "So, you'll be seeing Hope next?"

"Yes, sir."

"He can be a handful at times ... so be prepared for anything. Even with a mind of a three-year-old, he still manages to even get _me _tired from time-to-time. But I think out of all the patients here, Hope's probably the only one who can make you truly smile."

From the hopeful expression that Squall had on his face, Noctis could see that he was truly concerned for the fourteen-year-old's well being; unlike his co-worker Jihl. From the indifference toward the patients and the cold air about her, it was clear that Jihl wasn't the type to listen and/or understand. It made Noctis wonder why people like Ms. Nabaat even choose that kind of profession in the first place ...

"I shouldn't have a problem with him. I actually love kids." Noctis let out a small chuckle. "I'm actually looking forward to my shift with him with this afternoon."

Squall straightened himself in his chair, leaned slightly forward, and smirked. "That's a good attitude to have with Hope, let's hope that you still feel that way when you see what he comes up with. His imagination is quite… _unique_."

A dark eyebrow raised in cautious curiosity. "It cant be that bad, can it?"

"You see, it's different for everyone, so I can't really say if it'll be a good thing or a bad thing for you. But use this as a learning experience." Squall straightened himself up and took a sip of his coffee near his food

"Will do." Noctis nodded, and paused for a moment before asking a question that was bugging him since he read Hope's file yesterday. "Doctor, about Hope-"

Squall looked up from his coffee. "Squall."

Slightly surprised with the interruption, Noctis cleared his throat and corrected himself. "Squall – Squall nodded his approval - "I was wondering why Hope's mind hasn't progressed after eight years?"

The corners of Squall's mouth were dipped downward and his brows slightly lowered, he didn't seem too happy about the subject now. "We're not entirely sure ... All we can do is watch over him. Even with school lessons and psychotic help, his mental development remains that of a three year old mind."

"The poor kid …" Noctis let out a drawn out sigh. He couldn't image what it was like to grow up but remain trapped in the mind of a child; let alone being a young teen like Hope was. Hope couldn't do anything of the things that a normal teen his age could do ... It was a depressing thought. "I feel like I have a duty to help him. I really want to see him improve."

Squall smiled tenderly. "Most of us do as well … but all we can do it pray and wait."

Finishing his food, Noctis nodded. Squall just sat there and stared at the wall behind Noctis' head. They were both lost in their own thoughts, until Squall broke the silence. "Take care of her."

Noctis stared at him for a moment, slightly taken back with Squall's sudden comment. "What?"

Slowly, purposefully, Squall met Noctis' eyes and spoke in an almost gentle tone. "Your third patient. Take care of her. She's more delicate and fragile than what she seems."

"Claire?" Dark brows met ponderously. _Lightning ... Delicate and fragile? _It took almost everything that Noctis had within him to contain the scoff. Those two words ... delicate and fragile ... sure didn't describe the young trouble woman that he met yesterday. If anything, they matched more to Hope. "She doesn't look fragile ..." Noctis continued in a careful tone. "I'd say she's more quiet than anything."

A barely visible grin threatened to break Squall's facade of professionalism when he heard Noctis' comment. However, it was expected ... "That's what she wants people to believe: that she's strong, that she can take her of herself, and her sister, when in reality, she's just as scared as any of us are when placed in her situation." Squall paused for a moment when he saw the perplexity on Noctis' face. "You see, Noctis, it's a safe guard against pain ... You'll understand when you have the misfortune to witness one of her episodes … That's why I say take care of her. She needs sympathetic people, more so caregivers, in her life right now," he said sincerely.

The emotion that slipped through on the tone that Squall used, and the sincerity that swam behind his gray-blue eyes ... Noctis could sense a deep understanding coming from the young doctor, that Squall knew - or maybe even felt some form of Lightning's pain in his own life - and honestly cared for his patient.

Just as suddenly as the emotion was shown – even if it was barely there in the first place – it was gone, replaced by the air of professionalism that the young doctor carried himself in. Despite Squall's own sense of detachment for professional reasons, Noctis found himself respecting, even admiring his new mentor. "Don't worry, sir, I'll do whatever I can to take care of her," he said with every ounce of conviction within his being, a resolute expression on his face, and looked Squall in eyes as he spoke. Noctis wanted Squall to know that he meant every word that he said, that he wouldn't give second-best, but only his best and more to help.

A warm, kind smile graced Squall's expression. "I believe that you will, and that my patients are good in hands, Noctis." He stood up and nodded once at Noctis. "Good-day and good-luck." And with that, they parted ways.

Before Noctis left to head to Hope's room, he quickly grabbed a small tray of food for him in case he was hungry, and hurriedly headed to the young teen's room.

* * *

Quickly he swapped the key card though the small scanner, Noctis stepped inside, and immediately noticed that Hope was tucked into bed, peacefully asleep. Ms. Estheim looked up and gave him a warm smile from her seat, which was right beside Hope's bed, while she held her son's hand. Noctis smiled at the tender scene and set the tray of food on a nearby table, then walked outside for a moment and grabbed the clipboard from outside; he also make a mental note to himself to remember to grab the clipboard before he stepped into one of his patient's rooms in the future. Briskly he looked through its contents and saw that Hope had already taken his medication.

With Hope sound asleep, it seemed as if his afternoon was going to be an easy one. Before he went back inside to keep Ms. Estheim company, Noctis replaced the clipboard, and then stood by the corner. As he was about to ask Ms. Estheim something, he stopped himself. Taking a second look at her, she seemed exhausted. He shrugged to himself. _Perhaps she's tired ... I wouldn't blame her,_ Noctis thought as he watched the forlorn mother – perhaps it was best if he let her rest and didn't bother her with small talk. But maybe, small talk was what she needed; it would help keep her weary mind off her son, if even for a moment. However, before he could even utter a word, Ms. Estheim spoke. "How is your day so far, Noctis?"

With a lazy nod of his head, Noctis looked up. "It's going alright so far. Nothing really to worry about here, besides a practical joke, courtesy of Vanille, it's been a normal day so far."

A small breathy laughed escaped from her nostrils. "I've met Vanille, she's a sweet girl most of the time, but she's far too skinny for her age." Ms. Estheim paused for a moment and looked lovely upon her son. "I hope for her family's sake that she's better."

With a nod and a smile, Noctis replied, "She is - don't worry. Dr. Leonhart told me that she might be released this year. I just hope that she'll gain some weight soon."

"That's good to know that she has some hope ..."

From her hung head and the sad tone that carried on her voice, Noctis felt his heart constrict as she spoke.

"Now if only my son was as fortunate as her." She tenderly ran a hand through her son's hair and frowned slightly. "If only we knew where this came from … if only I could change the past in anyway to prevent this ..." Her voice was now quiet, just above a whisper, but Noctis could hear the desperation that rung clear on her tone.

This was one of the things that Noctis couldn't stand: seeing a mother and it didn't matter if it was his own mother or someone else's, in clear pain. His brows lowered in a sympathetic expression and he walked toward her and Hope. "It's not your fault, Ms. Estheim. Give it time and something will happen that will pull Hope out of this and he'll be better. You just have to have faith in him." Gently, Noctis placed his hand on Ms, Estheim's shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Despite herself, Ms. Estheim smiled at his comforting action. "You can call me Nora. And I know ..." Her voice slightly broke as she fought back the onslaught of tears. "I will never lose faith in my son …but there are times where …" Noctis felt a slight tremble in her shoulder. "Where I truly wish that he could live his life outside of these walls. He's been here for so long. Too long … And it's ..." Nora hung her head as she began to sob.

With a sympathetic gaze cast upon the top of Nora's head, Noctis gingerly asked, "If I may … why did you wait until Hope was six years old to send him here? Why did you wait so long?"

Nora shook her head and between controlled sobs ... managed to say, "It was my fault ... If only I wasn't so stubborn and got him help sooner ... I thought that he was just a late bloomer ... that sooner or later that he'd start to learn more if he was left at his own pace ... I was wrong ... I was terribly wrong ... but I didn't want to leave him isolated and away from other children ..." She raised a hand briskly wiped away a few stray tears and sighed. "So I just wrote if off as him being stubborn ... that he was learning but it was taking him some time to show that he did understand ... But when he showed no sign of mentally aging – still acting like a three-year-old at age six - my husband convinced me to bring him here ... Even though he's here with the proper help that he needs ... I still see no progress at all …"

Listening to Nora's story, Noctis felt a heavy weight upon his heart. He knew that some would say that Ms. Estheim turned a blind eye to a clear problem and ignored it for her own sake – out of fear of what people would think of her – or that she truly believed what she said. But Noctis could fully understand, the inner anguish, the pain and the fear that Ms. Estheim undoubtedly felt for her son's well-being. Noctis knelt down beside her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "I promise you, Nora, that Hope will get better. I swear it. I'll do whatever it takes to get him out of here …"

Her brows dipped with appreciation, and Nora nodded slowly, with a slightly smile brightening her features. "Thank you, Noctis … You don't know how much that means to me."

Removing his hands from her shoulders, Noctis slowly stood and murmured under his breath. "I understand more than you know ..."

As they continued to talk, a soft groan was heard from the small figure of Hope. "Mama?"

"Yes, Hope, I'm here, sweetie." Ms. Estheim turned her attention from Noctis and onto her son. "Were we being too loud?" she asked sincerely, lovingly caressing her son's pale cheek.

Hope leaned into his mother's touch and slowly nodded, nestling his head into her palm. "A little ..."

"I'm so sorry, baby, we'll keep it down."

"S'okay ... I was having a bad dream ... but then I heard you. Thanks, mama." Slowly Hope closed his eyes and fell right back asleep.

Ms. Estheim leaned in close and tenderly kissed Hope's forehead. "I'll protect you, baby, I promise …" Then she ran her hand through his hair once more and smiled.

Unfortunately, Noctis' entire shift consisted of Hope sleeping. Apparently the night before, his Nightmare Disorder decided to kick in and it keep him up all night. Even with the sedatives, he was still able to thrash about and stay awake the entire night. Nora looked truly tired, but Noctis admired her devotion to her son. As any mother would, he knew that Ms. Estheim would do anything for her son.

* * *

Noctis' shift with Hope had ended about ten minutes ago and now he was headed toward Lightning's room; his step had a little bounce to it, he was smiling at nothing, and he even found himself lightly humming. The way that he was acting, Noctis had to laugh at himself, he was acting like some love-struck schoolboy! However, it wasn't a bad feeling; it even made him lighter inside. Sure he might only get to meet with Lightning once a day and there was the little fact that she couldn't speak – whether her mutism was real or fake – but that didn't matter to him. There was something about Lightning that Noctis couldn't place his finger on. Perhaps one day, he thought hopefully, he could change that and make her say something ... anything at all if it meant that he could hear her voice.

"Maybe I should test her to see if she's really mute or faking-" When he reached Lightning(')s room, Noctis' voice trailed off when he saw Lightning laughing and smiling at someone in her room through the two-way mirror. As inane as it was, just the mere thought of that beautiful smile being for another male ... made something drop inside of Noctis and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Just who was that unabashed smile for anyway? Forcing himself to move, Noctis stepped closer to the opened door to catch a glimpse of his "competition". As he edged closer, Noctis shook his head, he couldn't really believe it ... that he was jealous of whoever the person was because Lightning's smile wasn't for him. However – and thankfully - that unpleasant feeling didn't last long when he realized that the smile was directed toward a girl, a girl who looked almost like Lightning. Relief washed over Noctis when it dawned upon him that she was her sister and not some random male worker, or worse ... Lightning's boyfriend.

When his foot landed too heavily on the hard marble floor of the institute, Lightning turned toward him and her smile almost instantly vanished. She shyly hid her face behind her bangs and pointed toward him. The other girl turned and looked at his direction and brightly smiled at him. She quickly hugged Lightning, with a reassuring smile, she kissed her sister on the cheek, and left. Now Noctis didn't hear a word of what she said to Lightning, but whatever she said, it must have been something good to make Lightning smile in the way that she did, and for her eyes to shine so brightly.

The teen stepped out of the room and greeted Noctis. "Why, hello there! I've been reading a lot about you lately." She gave him a sly look. "Just what did you do to my sister to make her this ... _happy_?"

A fire of excitement began to burn in Noctis' belly and he smiled. "Happy?"

Lightning's sister nodded. "Enthusiastic even!"

A hint of a smile was on his face. He'd hope that he would be able to help Lightning, but to hear that his short visit yesterday affect her this much …well, Noctis found himself enthusiastic as well. "Well, at least I know I'm of some good!" He joked with a playful grin.

There was a moment of silence until they broke into laughter. When the laughter died down, the girl held her hand out. "I'm Serah Farron, Claire's little sister."

Noctis took her hand and shook it gently. "Noctis, Claire's new supervisor."

A delicate brow raised in amusement and Serah coyly grinned. "By the way, I wouldn't call her Claire if you don't want to get punched in the gut. She _hates_ it. If you want to stay on her good side, then stick with Lightning. I'm the only one who can call her Claire. Not even my boyfriend gets away with it when he calls her Claire."

With a look of bemusement on his face, Noctis tilted his head to the side. "Why?"

Serah raised her shoulders, shrugging, and slowly shook her head. "I can't seem to remember ... No matter how hard I try ... it's odd … wouldn't you say?" She scratched the back of her head. "Oh well, it'll come back to me one day, along with the rest of the other missing pieces."

"Missing pieces?"

"Oh ... it's nothing." Serah waved him off, not showing too much concern for "the missing pieces". "I have a small case of amnesia, but it's nothing to worry about. Maybe Light will tell you, because I can't really help ... I think whatever it is that I can't remember ... is what put Lightning here ..." Serah looked towards Lightning with a look of guilt on her face and frowned, casting her gaze toward her feet. "But that's just my theory."

Noctis tilted his head towards Lightning as well. "Don't worry, Serah, I'm sure it's something else … It'll come back to you. I know it will ..." He paused for a moment. He was about to confess something that he hardly ever talked about with anyone, not even Stella. Noctis took a deep breath and continued. "I suffered from the same thing when I was younger ... It just takes time."

Serah looked up at him and met his gaze, smiling tenderly. "I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's had to face this." She took a step closer to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Please, take care of my sister, okay?"

"I don't need to be told twice," Noctis said with a quick nod and a reassuring smile.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, my boyfriend is "patiently" waiting for me outside, he can get quite impatient. I'll have to introduce you one day! Maybe you can put up with him better than Lightning does!" She finished with a small laugh, and then bid her goodbyes.

Amused, Noctis raised his brows and shrugged. "You learn something new everyday …" He mumbled to himself as he scanned over the hanging clip bored by the door and walked in. He stepped inside and found Lightning playing with her notebook. Noctis smiled and walked up to her. "Good evening, Claire! How are we today?"

Visibly Lightning tensed at that and then did something that not even Noctis expected. She quickly, with incredible speed, locked Noctis into a small playful headlock. He could hear her attempt to yell something, but it didn't come out the way she wanted. Only a small gasp of air was heard. So, she really was mute. Now Noctis felt a little bad for not fully believing if Lightning was mute or not, and for riling her up. But he couldn't just let her have him held in a headlock, playful or not.

Quickly he countered her, got out of her grasp, and flung her over his shoulder. Lightning tried to scream but only a small gust of warm air hit his ear. The sound that she made ... it stirred certain thoughts in Noctis' head ... but he quickly pushed them aside. It was perverse to think that way of a patient, even if his own infatuation with her pushed those boarders. Suddenly, and because of the squirming that she was doing, Lightning began to slip. Before she fell, Noctis brought a hand up and caught her. However, where he caught her ... his hand had firmly grabbed onto Lightning's rear to keep her from falling and this caused him to tense up greatly.

Lightning was about to let Noctis have it until she noticed the way his body suddenly tensed up and saw an apologetic expression on his face ... and a curious flush of red on his cheeks. This brought a sly grin to her lips, which Noctis saw.

"Don't even think about-" Noctis began to warn but was cut off when she began to poke at his sides, tickling him, and causing Noctis to laugh.

"No! Stop it, Claire! No jerky movements or I might drop both of us!" He stuttered in-between breaths. However, much to his distress, Lightning continued to tickle him. Feeling his strength giving out, Noctis quickly went over to her bed and unceremoniously dropped her onto her rear with a soft plop. He took a few steps back to try to catch his breath, however, because of the devious look that Lightning had in her eyes, Noctis tried to retreat to a nearby corner. Before he could even take two steps, Lightning lunged for him, and they both fell into the soft padded floor, with Lightning on top of him.

"Claire ...," Noctis said cautiously, holding his hands up. "Please don't do what I think-" But it was too late, before he could even finish, Lightning was feverishly tickling his sides once more.

Noctis squirmed under her and tried to pry her hands off. Unfortunately, Lightning was faster, and amazingly strong. "Okay! I give!" He cried, tears beginning to form in his eyes from the laughter. _Uncle_! U_ncle_! _I can't _... _breathe ... too_ …_much_ … _laughing_!"

A toothy grin beamed on Lightning's while her eyes sparkled with merriment when she stopped the tickling. She looked around for her notebook and spotted it. Quickly she got off him and crawled over to it. Grabbing her trusty "mouth", Lightning straddled Noctis again, completely unaware of the perverse thoughts that were coursing though Noctis' mind. However pleasurable the thoughts were, they made him uncomfortable. She was his patient ... he was her care giver ... Even if he did entertain certain thoughts toward her ... _these _were crossing a line. He glanced up at the cameras and prayed to Etro that no one was looking at them in that moment.

Suddenly she began to write. "_Lightning. My name is Lightning._"

Taking his eyes off the cameras and turning his attention back to Lightning, Noctis smiled. "Your file says Claire."

With a soft sigh, Lightning rolled her eyes, and tapped her note book. Noctis sensed that she was repeating herself and smiled. "But why Lightning?"

With a thoughtful look on her face, Lightning thought for a moment before writing. "_Because I felt like it …_"

Noctis raised an eyebrow and twisted his mouth. "Because you felt like it? That's not a valid reason, _Claire._ Tell me the real reason and maybe then I'll consider calling you Lightning …"

Lightning sighed and rubbed her temples before writing again. "_I'll tell you when you're older …_"

"When I'm older?" Noctis retorted dramatically. "I am older than you … I'm Nineteen!"

"_And your point?_" Lightning shrugged.

Brazenly, Noctis caught Lightning's chin in-between his index and thumb, made her look at him, and slowly shook his head. "Meaning that you can tell me. I am pretty mature for my age …"

Lightning pulled away from his gentle hold. "_You're so weird. I don't need to tell strangers like you anything._"

"I'm no stranger, from today until my internship is up, I'm your supervisor. I don't want there to be any secrets between us, alright?" He gave her a dashing smile.

A sigh came from Lightning followed by soft laughter. "_Whatever you say. But look where you're at, Mr. Hot-Shot …_"

Oh he knew where he was ... he didn't have to reminded. However, Noctis felt the heat rise up to his cheeks and he instantly looked away from her. Lightning, being a curious person that she was, grabbed the sides of his face in-between the palms of her hands and made him stare at her. With a pure innocence, she ran her thumbs along his cheeks and tilted her head. Noctis stared into her icy blue eyes and found only one vividly clear emotion - sorrow. Lightning was so focused on his cheeks that she completely forgot what they were rambling on about. Her face transfixed, she leaned a little closer to scan his eyes and they stayed like that.

After a long moment, Lightning touched her cheek, while having her other hand on his face. Why was she so enthralled about his blush? Noctis found it slightly perplexing, but after thinking for a moment, it suddenly made sense in a way. She's been in this facility since she was fourteen ... maybe she's never really blushed before, or ever had a real reason to blush before? Who knew, but right now, she was far more curious about his face than the situation they were in – with her still straddling him. It was crossing one of those doctor/patient lines, but Noctis to know. Tenderly he grabbed her hand and smiled at her. "Lightning, have you ever liked someone before?"

Lightning cocked her head to the side and removed her hand. "_Define "like" …_"

With Lightning still on top of him, Noctis sat up and positioned Lightning sideways in-between his legs. "Hmm … when you get this fuzzy feeling inside whenever you see the person that you like, and when you see them, you can't help but to smile."

Studying her face, Noctis thought that he saw a faint hint of a flush before Lightning merely shrugged. "_Not really, what kind of stupid feeling is that?_"

Lightning seemed so strong on the outside, but yet she seemed ... delicate on the inside when it came to these emotions. Noctis lightly chuckled at that. "It's a nice feeling."

"_Why?_"

Noctis thought for a moment. "Because … it just is, you have to feel it to know it …"

A longing sigh escaped from Lightning and she looked up at the ceiling, leaning against his chest. She wrote one more time and gave him the notebook. "_I don't think I'll ever feel that …_"

She repositioned herself next to him, leaned against the wall as she brought her knees up to her chest, and closed her eyes. Idly rubbing her bandaged wrists against each other and furrowed her brows.

Noctis felt a swell of pity for her. So young ... but yet she carried with her the stigmas of a mental disorder and of one who tried to take her own life. How could one not so much younger than he was suffer so much that she longed to die? Whatever it was that made Serah forget and landed Lightning in this place, Noctis swore that he would help Lightning get past it. Lightly he sighed and scooted closer to her. "Don't worry … I think you might one day, Lightning."

**To be continued in chapter three.**

**

* * *

**

**A/N: So for this story im going to head I the directions that reviewers would like to see, so suggestions are so being taken in now! My beta sincerely apologises for the late update seeing, as I had this ready a 2 weeks ago Im sure, but like I always say, better late then never….right! So review! Tell me your thoughts and yeah, thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Silent Cries **

**A/N: Im very srry for the long wait, but its better late than never. Keep in mind, I kinda have a life outside the internet and I also had mid-terms and finals to ya know study for. So im srry school comes first *sad face*. Please enjoy this chapter, you're in for a great surprise ;) Please read the A/N at the bottom ;)**

**Special thanks to these ppl who reviewed****: Aria94, ZoMg1010, maxeyn,"No name dude", Yuki Minamoto, Henrietta Skylink, fujingodofwind, ClaireFrascalia, Sox765, sasusaku-EienAi, "Reader", zenbon zakura, Anthropophagicopropheliac,"G"**

**Chapter 3: Issues**

As Noctis walked into the main lobby of the Mental Institute that morning, he was yawning and stretching at all once after finally being able to get a good nights sleep. He felt relaxed, refreshed, and ready to take on any challenge that the day brought him. Even if it was another sudden outburst from Vanille, Noctis was ready for it. He'd once again planned out activities for him to do with Hope and was ready for more conversation with Mrs. Estheim if Hope was sleeping again.

As for Lightning ... well, he still wasn't quite sure … But about what? Well, in all honestly … he still wasn't sure about her and the sudden emerging emotions he felt for her. But after yesterday and the conversation that he had with Serah – hinting at the positive effect that he'd on her sister – and then the play-wrestling with Lightning and subtle flirting … Noctis found that when he went to sleep last night, that his anxiety had somehow vanished, even though his mind was still preoccupied by the pink-haired female and her sister.

But whatever he was feeling toward Lightning, the emotions that went beyond the normal sympathy that a doctor had for a patient, he knew that he shouldn't become too attached to her, no matter how tempting it was for him. Noctis knew that if he crossed that doctor/patient line … he would be risking his internship, his future as a doctor, and would cause trouble for Lightning as well. He knew that trouble was the last thing that Lightning needed in her road to recovery.

A fleeting smirk brought the corners of his lips upward. Yeah … he sure knew how to pick them when it came to relationships alright …

"Good morning, Noctis!"

The cheery of voice the receptionist brought Noctis out of his inner-most musings and he looked up and smiled. "Good morning, Trish, how are you today?" he asked, grateful for her cheerful greeting.

"I'm great, thank you!" She smiled and adjusted her thick rimmed glasses. She wore her long, wavy chestnut-brown hair up in a professional bun, while her clothing was very secretarial: a dark knee length shirt with a matching jacket over a white button up blouse. Even though Noctis had only worked there for a few days, it seemed as if Trish always wore a bright smile when greeted him or any other person, for that matter, who happened to walk through the door.

As he began to walk toward the locker area to get ready for his shifts, Trish called out to him, "Excuse me, Mr. Caelum. Dr. Leonhart asked me to remind you'll be seeing your patients in the lounge today."

Raising a confused brow, Noctis stopped in his tracks and turned on his heel. "Really? I didn't see anything about it in my files."

With a sarcastic smile, Trish let out a disgruntled huff. "Someone should really fire the morons who put together the files … Half of the time, I have to tell you interns where to go, what to do, and whatever else one can think of!"

Immediately Noctis raised his hands with an apologetic expression on his face. However, Trish raised her own hand and cut him off before he could even get one word out. "I'm sorry, hun. I wasn't talking about you. You're not as bad the rest of the interns." She brought her hand to her chin and with a thoughtful look on her face, seemingly thinking of something. After a second or two of thinking she said, "In fact, this is the first time I'd had to tell you anything."

_That poor woman,_ Noctis thought. He could only image how many times the other interns had to ask her to pull something up on her computer because their files lacked a vital piece of information on a patient. So Noctis couldn't argue with her. Hell, he agreed with her! Something had to be done about the filing system. "You're right about that!" he laughingly said. "My roommate could do a better job at organizing these files!" Which sadly, wasn't far from the truth. Even Stella would be annoyed with the lack of information that the files had.

He strolled up to the counter and leaned against the top for support, placed a hand under his chin. "If you don't mind, I can I ask why? Is it for a special reason?" he asked, honestly wanting to know.

"Well, you can't keep your patients locked up all the time. They need to converse with others too, not just the nurses and doctors."

At that moment Noctis felt slightly dumbfounded for asking that question. After all, it made perfect sense. If the patients only had contact with their doctors and nurses and didn't interact with the other patients, how would they react to other people when they were finally released? "True." He drawled out in a thoughtful manner, and paused for a moment when another question came to mind. She said that his patients would be in the lounge for the day, but she didn't say if it was all three of them or just certain ones at certain times. "Will it be all of them at once, or just one or two at certain times?"

Trish shifted her attention to her computer and quickly looked up the information. "Um … yes, at one point or another. However, your third patient will be there a little later."

Dark brows slightly furrowed and Noctis straightened himself up when he heard that. "Why? Is she sick?"

Trish looked up and gave him a skeptical look. "No, it's just for the best with someone like her."

"I see," Noctis said in an even tone, realizing that he acted a bit too concerned when he asked if Lightning was sick, so he didn't push the subject further. "So, will it just be the three of them in there today?"

"Nope." She shook her head and gave a quick glance at the screen before her. "Other patients and their supervisors will be there as well. So if anything goes wrong, you'll have some back up." Trish reassured him.

"That's good to know, thank you, Trish." Noctis nodded once and began to walk away from the counter, stretching once again as he walked toward the door that lead to the colorless hallways of the institute.

"Anytime, and good-luck today!" Trish called out as he left the lobby to begin his day.

Before he entered the door, Noctis causally waved to Trish over his shoulder. Once the door closed, he brought his hand down and headed for the lounge, all whilst thinking how this would be his first time with all three of his patients. If Hope or Lightning had an episode while in the lounge, Noctis was fairly sure that he could handle it without either of them getting out of hand. Vanille however, he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't slightly worried about her having an outburst in the middle of a room packed with other patients that could react violently. On the other hand, Trish had said that other supervisors would be there so he only had Vanille to worry about. Silently he prayed to Etro that the day would go smoothly.

As he entered the lounge area, he quickly found that it was just as colorless as the rest of the institute. Patients were sitting on white furniture talking amongst themselves, while others were busy watching T.V on a small clear television that sat in the middle of a bolted-down table. As Noctis' eyes swept over the area, he saw a man and a woman playing a game of chess at one table, while at another table an intense game of checkers was going on between a teenage girl and one who looked like she was about thirteen or so.

"You so cheated!" exclaimed the girl whose hair was an interesting shade of purple.

The older girl who had short, dark-brown hair suddenly stood up and pointed her finger at her accuser. "You dare accuse "The Great Ninja-" However, before she could finish her sentence, a couple of game pieces fell out of her sleeve.

Noctis found himself slightly taken back with the sudden stream of curses that came from the younger girl's mouth as she rose to her own feet. Never in his life had Noctis heard such words come from someone so young; he couldn't help but wonder why she was there and suddenly felt sorry for whoever was her supervisor and at the same time was grateful that she wasn't one of his patients.

The young purple-haired girl lunged for the teen, gritting her teeth, while a sudden and terrible anger burned in her blue eyes. However, instead of catching the teen's face with her balled-up fist, she landed face first on the ground when her target skillfully dodged the punch.

"Ah-haha! Nice try, Prishe! But if you wanna catch "The White Rose of Wutai", you'll need to be faster than that!" The teen taunted with a gleeful grin and turned to make a run for it before her would-be attacker pulled herself up from the floor.

Highly amused as he watched the scene unfold, Noctis chuckled to himself and made a mental note to keep Vanille away from those two high-spirited girls. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if Vanille was involved in that little game. It gave him a slight headache just thinking about it.

A sudden blur of white brought Noctis' attention back to the girls as they began to chase the other. However, it was quickly brought to an end when two people, a male and a female - Noctis could only assume that the two who stopped the girls were their supervisors – blocked their path and caused the girls to crush into each other in a mess of limbs on the floor.

The female, who had an interesting shade of orange hair, had her arms crossed over her chest with disappointed look on her face bent down and grabbed Prishe by her arm and pulled her up. "Prishe … How many times do I have to tell you not to get pulled into a fight?"

The girl moved out her supervisor's grip and tucked her arms behind the small of her back, stuck her lip out, and gave her supervisor a pout that made Noctis want to forgive the girl. "Ulmia, it wasn't my fault … I swear it!"

"Don't swear!"

"But that damn, Klepto-"

"I don't want to hear it! You're going back to your room this insistent!"

"But, Ulmia ..."

"Don't "But, Ulmia" me, Prishe! You should know better than to pick on someone younger than you!" And with that, Ulmia escorted Prishe out of the lounge.

Before Noctis had time to allow Ulmia's comment about Prishe being older than the teen to sink in, the teen began to victoriously taunt Prishe as she followed Ulmia. "Saved again from another ass-kickin' eh, Pris-"

The male supervisor, who had black hair and crimson eyes, had a rather stern expression on his face, said in a rather low, intimidating voice, "That's enough, Yuffie."

Noctis watched as Yuffie went ridged and slowly shifted her eyes to the male. "But, Vincent … she started it ..."

An unamused dark brow rose. "You were the one cheating."

"But – I … I ..." Yuffie sighed. "To my room, right?"

Without saying a word, Vincent nodded once and moved aside. Yuffie, albeit a bit hesitatingly, walked out of the lounge as her supervisor followed her out.

After watching how quickly the supervisors defused the situation, Noctis was impressed. Despite the girls initial protests, they went along quietly without making much more of a fuss or upsetting the other patients. It was then that Noctis recognized Ulmia and Vincent. They were Dr. Ulmia – Noctis couldn't remember her last name for the life of him - and Dr. Vincent Valentine, some of the senior staff of the institute. And unfortunately like his co-workers, some of the people whom he didn't really know anything about. He'd never taken the time to have a real conversation with any of them outside of a casual hello that was exchanged in the hallways as they passed each other.

Taking one last look around, Noctis saw that the other tables in the room had drawing materials on them, while others were empty, and off to a corner a group session was being held. Before Noctis turned to look for his patients, he caught sight of a young woman who had black hair with caramel streaks, dark eyes, and who was reading a book. Nothing seemed to be special about her, expect for the fact that she had a silver chain necklace around her neck with two rings hanging from it. Noctis found it strange that a patient was allowed to keep something that she could hang herself with if she was suicidal. But there was something about her … he couldn't place it. Maybe it was the wedding ring on her finger that caught his attention … or was the unique ring – _Is that a wing? - _that hung next to a simple-looking silver band.

Whatever it was, the appearance of a tall blonde woman, who wore reading glasses and - as strange as it was - looked like Jihl Nabaat caught his attention. But unlike the cold arrogance that was in Jihl's eyes, this woman had warmth in her eyes and wore her long blonde hair up except for two sections that framed her face. The woman whispered something in the ear of the woman who was reading. The seated woman merely nodded, placed the book down, and then followed the blonde out of the lounge.

Pushing the women out of his mind for now, Noctis looked around for his patients and instantly his eye caught sight of the bright pink, orange tinged hair of Vanille. Despite his wariness of Vanille's outbursts, Noctis considered Vanille to be a good friend in the mental institute. It wasn't long before Vanille spotted him and she was waving enthusiastically at him, while she held Hope's hand up for added-effect to catch his eye. Quickly and quietly, Noctis walked over to where they were.

"Morning, Noctis!" she called loudly, so loud in fact that her voice slightly echoed off the walls.

Noctis waved quickly and smiled. "Good morning, Vanille, Hope. I glad that you've found each other."

Vanille smiled. "Of course! I'd rather spend the day with Hope than get dragged into something with those two loud-mouths who got dragged off … Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way about Yuffie's Kleptomania … That brat stole my hair ties saying that were material? Mantra …? Materia?" She rolled her eyes. "Or something like that ..."

"What?" Noctis laughingly asked.

"Yeah … don't ask … Yuffie's off her bloody rocker! She thinks that she's some ninja princess and she's always stealing things ... But if she's a princess, then why does she steal?"

"Yes, princesses are rich!" Hope chimed in. "They don't need to steal! She's so mean … she stole my marbles."

Noctis knelt down to Hope's level and placed his hands gently on the young teen's shoulders. "Why would she do that?"

With a sniffle, Hope answered. "Materia ..." And then he began to suck on his thumb.

"As Fang would say, she's got a screw lose," Vanille said rolling her head slightly to the left and motioned toward her head with her eyes.

Hope took his thumb out his mouth and grinned from ear-to-ear. "A screw lose!"

Even though he was laughing, Noctis took a few breathes and calmed himself down. "Now guys, that's not nice. I'm sure that Yuffie is-"

Before he could finish, Vanille interrupted him. "She thinks that her doctor is a demon called Chaos."

Taken back by her statement, Noctis stammered. "Ah … what?"

"Yeah … and Prishe isn't any better … She's like Hope but not."

Suddenly, Hope latched on to Vanille's right side. "She's really scary …" Hope bit his lower lip and looked up at Vanille. "She's even worse than ..." His voice trailed off before he could finish.

"It's okay, sweetie," Vanille said with a warm smile. "I know I have my moments … but Prishe takes the cake."

At was at that moment when Noctis remembered Ulmia's comment about Prishe being older than Yuffie and now Vanille's own comment about Prishe being like Hope but worse. Curiosity was a bitch at times. Because of everything that Vanille was telling him about patients that weren't even his, he suddenly felt like a gossip monger. But his natural curious nature wouldn't let him drop it. "Vanille?"

She looked at him and nodded. "Yeah?"

"What did you mean that Prishe was like Hope?"

"Well ..."

"And her doctor said that she should know better than to pick fights with people who were younger than her. What did she mean by that? Yuffie looks older than Prishe."

Vanille nervelessly bit her inner cheek, looked around, and then leaned in close, with Hope mimicking her actions. "Well, I don't know what's it called … but she stopped physically aging at thirteen/fifteen ..."

Still confused about what this meant, Noctis furrowed his eyebrows. "So she's a little older than Yuffie?"

Pursing her lips together, Vanille shook her head. "No, Noctis … she may act like she's almost the same age as me and Yuffie, but she's actually older than Dr. Leonhart … maybe even older him. Like Dr. Valentine old and he's like fifty or something, despite how dreamy he looks ..."

"What?"

With the sudden silence that engulfed the room, Noctis realized that in the astonishment of learning that Prishe could be as old as Dr. Valentine, he'd cried out a bit too loudly. While keeping a calm expression on his face, all the while fighting back the mortification that he felt for the slip in his professional decorum, Noctis smiled and laughingly apologized for his sudden outburst.

As the room began to fill with the murmurers of distant chatter, Noctis turned his attention back toward Vanille. "Real smooth, Nocty …," she said with a dubious expression.

Nervelessly he chuckled and thought to himself, _Yeah … real smooth, Noct … _Looking for anything to get the subject off of him, Noctis looked at the table that he saw Hope sitting at when he first spotted Vanille and Hope and saw that the young teen was in the middle of building something.

"Hey, Hope?" Hope immediately turned his head toward him and Noctis smiled at having his full attention. "Do you want to show me what you were building?"

A bright, enthusiastic smile spread across Hope's face and he began to jump up and down. "Yeah! Let's play! Let's play! Mommy isn't here today, she'll be back laters!" Hope took Noctis' hand and pulled him to the other side of the room. Hope plopped himself on the ground and sat on his knees and continued to work on the beginnings of a tower.

Vanille sat on the other side of them and began to gather as much blocks as possible for Hope. Then, she met with Noctis' gaze and mouthed. _"Nice way to change the subject."_ And then she looked at Hope with a warm smile. "What are we building, Hope?" Vanille questioned.

"A light tower!" he exclaimed.

Tilting her head to the side, Vanille asked. "A light tower for what?"

Suddenly, Hope hung his head and kept his eyes on his hands. But despite this, Noctis saw the frown on Hope's face. "To keep the dark Elf people out! So I can protect my mommy from the bad people."

"Bad people?" Noctis questioned.

"Uh-huh, 'cause mommy's …" Hope began but paused for a moment to look up with a determined look on his face and said, "The Elf Queen of Light! I'm going to protect her from evil Dark Elf King!"

With feigned amusement, Noctis smiled while inwardly laughing. _Dr. Leonhart sure wasn't kidding about the imagination part, _he thought as tried to contain his laughter so he wouldn't hurt Hope's feelings.

"Who's the bad man, Hope? Can I help, too?" Vanille asked with a genuine smile and pointed at herself. Man she was good with kids, but Noctis prayed that she wasn't going to make an outburst of any kind today.

"The bad man is papa. It's his fault mommy is sad …"

The smile that was on Vanille's face lessened. "Your mom is sad? How come …?"

Hope shrugged. "I don't know … I see the way she looks at papa when he leaves me with her."

Noctis furrowed his brows. "What do you mean …?"

Hope became still and looked at Noctis, and blinked a couple times before sighing. To Noctis it seemed as if Hope was having a difficult time finding the right words to express himself. Hope crossed his arms over his chest and sat on his bottom crossing his legs as well.

Gently, Vanille gently placed a comforting hand on Hope's shoulder and looked at him. "It's okay, Hope, you can tell us. We won't tell anyone." She leaned in a little closer to him. "It'll be our little secret!"

As Noctis held Hope's gaze, something shown in the young teen's eyes that spoke of a maturity beyond his mental age. It was something that he'd never seen in Hope's eyes before. Noctis blinked as a look of sorrowful awareness washed across the teen's face. "Hope?" Noctis called cautiously.

Slowly, Hope closed his eyes and whispered something, but unfortunately, it wasn't loud enough to hear.

"Oh my ..." Vanille visibly stiffened, having caught what Hope said.

Just then, he opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and tilted his head to the side. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

As the child-like innocent replaced the look of the maturity that briefly shown in Hope's eyes, Noctis felt a wave of disappointment wash over him and frowned. "It's nothing, Hope …"

Hope furrowed his brows. "Vanille, why is Noctis mad at me?"

Taken back herself, Vanille blinked a few times and stuttered. "I-I don't k-know … but, Hope, repeat what you just said!"

Confused, Hope's brows dropped. "Repeat what?"

"What you just said! You have to repeat it!" Vanille grasped the young teen's shoulders tightly.

"I-I-I umm ... what? What do you mean …?" Hope suddenly became frightened of Vanille.

Vanille suddenly angered by Hope's innocence, let go of him and stood. "What you just said! You have to tell Noctis what you just said! Tell him right now!" She demanded and stomped her foot on the floor.

Tears began to form in Hope's eyes. "What are you saying? I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Hope covered his ears and looked away from Vanille.

_Okay, this has gone far enough! She's scaring him,_ Noctis thought and stood up. " Vanille, that's enough. Can't you see that you're scaring him …?" His voice was soft and quiet, in an attempt to calm the poor boy down.

"But you heard it, right! He's getting better! Please tell me you heard it!" Vanille grasped her hair and tugged on it hard.

Firmly, but gently so he wouldn't hurt her, Noctis grabbed Vanille by the arm and pulled her a few feet away. "Vanille, he's three and you're scaring him. You need to stop this right now."

"No! He's getting better! Can't you see that! Quick, call someone before he forgets what he said!"

It was clear to him that Vanille becoming frantic. Patiently, Noctis sighed. "Vanille, look at him. He's crying. Obviously he has no idea what's going on, just drop it for now. Besides, it wouldn't do any good if Hope can't remember what he said." It was true though, on Noctis side at least. There would be no point to call a doctor since Noctis didn't actually hear what Hope said. And if he did call Dr. Leonhart, it would only mean he'd have to look after a crying teenager. Sighing, Noctis made a mental note to tell Dr. Leonhart about what happened.

Vanille pushed him slightly and took a few steps back. "Fine! Be that way! Don't come crying to me later when you're curious!" She huffed loudly and turned her back towards him.

Great ... Noctis ran a hand through his black layered hair. Now he had an angry bipolar patient and a crying "three-year-old" on his hands. Despite his exasperation with Vanille, Noctis went back to Hope's side and brought the boy to his feet. He dusted the sobbing teen off and grabbed his hands to direct them away from his face. Noctis gave him a gentle smile. "Hope, it's alright. You don't need to cry."

"Van-Vanille's ... mad ... Noctis. I'm ... sorry!" Hope began to cry even harder than he was before, as his words became slurred and unintelligible.

Noctis sighed. "Vanille is Vanille ... I'm sorry, Hope, I-we didn't mean to scare you." Noctis brought his hands to his shoulders and rubbed them softly. Hope sobbed and nodded his head, his tear filled face looked at him for reassurance. Quickly, Hope used the collar of his shirt to wipe his face.

Just then, the sound of the door opening could be heard and Hope looked up. Suddenly, his face lit up with happiness. "Lightning!" Hope called out. Of course, when Noctis turned, there was Lightning walking through the doorway that lead to the lounge.

Quickly, Hope rushed past Noctis and made a mad dash for Lightning and embraced her tightly as if she was the best thing he'd ever seen. Noctis chuckled to himself. _Even a "three-year-old" likes her. It's not surprising though, _he thought as he watched Lightning smiled softly at the young teen. Even though she had one arm shyly around Hope, she kept one arm at her side. Noctis scratched the back of his head, sighed as he got up on a knee, and dusted himself off. Slowly, he walked toward his patients and smiled at Lightning. "Hey, about time you got here."

Lightning shrugged and rolled her eyes and then pointed toward Hope as she furrowed her brows, her expression quizzical.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Noctis explained what happened. "Well, we had a small situation, but it's nothing I can't handle."

With Hope still clinging to her, Lightning crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a look as if to say, _"Oh really ...? What really happened?" _Since her trustworthy "mouth" wasn't with her.

"We just had an interesting conversation, that's all. Speaking of which, where did Vanille go?" Noctis looked around and frowned. "She was here a minute ago."

Lightning sighed and pointed toward one of the drawing tables. Noctis looked and of course there was Vanille talking with another patient. Etro only knew what she was saying at that moment. Noctis chuckled; Vanille's mood swings never ceased to amaze him. Putting his attention back to Lightning, he watched as she dragged herself, with Hope clinging to one leg, to Hope's little play area. Noctis following close behind, inwardly laughing at how attached Hope seemed to be with Lightning. He could only image how poor Lightning felt with a fifteen-year-old teen, who thought he was three, attached to her in such a manner.

Looking around, Lightning patted Hope's shoulders twice to get his attention and pointed to some papers and crayon that she could use.

Seeing that he was closer to the objects that Lightning wanted, Noctis gathered together the papers and crayon and handed them to Lightning. "Here you go, Light."

Taking her temporary "mouth" from him, Lightning narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "_You're jealous, aren't you?" _She quickly wrote.

Noctis felt heat rush to his cheeks at her accusation. "No. I was just closer, that's all." A teasing grin quickly chased away the slight blush. "Why? Would you like it if I was jealous?"

Lightning smirked. "_Jealous over the attention that I get from someone who thinks he's three? No … that's just sad ..."_

She had him there. Noctis feigned insult to her comment, turned around, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think you've been in your room too long if you missed my attempt at being funny."

Suddenly he felt a gentle pat on his shoulder and he turned around to see Lightning with an apologetic look on her face. "_Maybe I have been in this place too long …" _After he finished reading that piece of paper, she handed him another one. _"Or maybe you need to work on your weird sense of humor."_

A bittersweet washed across Noctis' lips as a small pang of guilt hit his heart. "Maybe it's both ..."

"_Maybe ..._" Lightning turned her gaze toward the top of Hope's head, who was busy making invisible designs on her shoes.

"But you know what?" Noctis gently captured her chin between his thumb and index fingers and brought it up to look in her eyes as he spoke, so she would know that he was telling the truth. "That's why I'm going to help you leave this place. I promise, Lightning. And I don't break my promises."

Lightning smiled sadly. "_Don't make a promise you can't keep."_

For a brief moment, a frown swept across Noctis' lips, but it was quickly replaced with a gentle smile. "Just give me some time." Lightning furrowed her brows as he spoke but she still held his gaze. "Work with me, Light, try to get better, and help me get you out of this place. If we don't work together … well, this only works if you want to get better. So if you try, I promise that you'll be out of here before my internship is up."

"_Bold words for someone who barely knows me …"_

That caused Noctis to smile. "You'll see, Light. And I'll help you talk too, and if you want-" But Noctis cut himself short. What was he thinking? He couldn't believe that he almost said that! However, the unspoken words resounded loudly for him in his mind: _And if you want, I'll listen to your every thought and hear every dream that you have, if it will help lift whatever burden that is holding you down. If you'll allow me to, I'll help your heart fly higher than you ever imaged._ Mentally he rolled his eyes; just what was he thinking? That sounded so corny … like a bad love poem or something out of one of Stella's romance novels. But just being around Lightning brought something out of him that he couldn't describe and made his heart bloom in a way that he never felt before.

When Lightning rolled her eyes at him, Noctis had to stifle a laugh. But he couldn't help but wonder what she would have done if he had said what was on his mind. Instead of tormenting himself over what if's and could have been's, Noctis read Lightning's note. "_Right, now get Hope off of me …" _

Thankful for the distraction, Noctis smiled and said, "Gladly." And went around Hope and gently grasped his shoulders. "Hope, Lightning is feeling a little sick right now, so could you let her go so she could sit down for a little a bit. That might make her feel better."

Hope stopped making the swirly designs on Lightning's shoes and looked up wearing an innocent smile. "Okay, Nocty, make her feel better! I'm gonna play with Vanille, she looks lonely!" With that Hope let go of Lightning and ran toward Vanille. Lightning sighed and threw the crayon she had on the ground.

She looked at Noctis and then pointed. Noctis saw that she was pointing toward one of the drawing tables. "I guess you want to just sit then, huh …?" Lightning nodded approvingly and they both sat down and remained silent.

As they sat in silence, Lightning grabbed one of the pencils and stared at it, idly rolling it across the table with the tip of her finger. As time passed, both Noctis and Lightning wondered to their own thoughts, each ignoring the others presence. Neither of them spoke for what seemed like an eternity.

"It's not going to disappear by staring at it, _Claire._ Do yourself a favor and put it down," Jihl called out of nowhere.

Noctis' could hear the venom that laced Jihl's voice when she used Lightning's real name, and glared at his superior. "It's Lightning."

"Please, what a pathetic cover up. Now step aside, Noctis, I'm going to begin her speech lessons." Jihl placed her clipboard in-front of him and smirked. "Go play with the other kiddies, you seem to be more in your element with them."

From behind him, Noctis heard Lightning growl at her snide comment. He had to do/say something to defuse this before it out of hand, so he calmly asked. "Why isn't the doctor teaching her today?"

"He's busy at the moment with one of his other patients. As one of his loyal suburbanites, I'll be taking over for today," Jihl said an arrogant tone.

"Then as an intern who's supposed to be learning how to take care of patients, why can't I teach her? It couldn't be _that_ hard."

Agitated, Jihl sighed. "That's why. You're only an intern. You don't know the standards for these lessons. Therefore, you cannot properly teach her any vocal communication."

"Well, what if I watched while you taught her, then maybe I could do it in the future to save not only you time, but Dr. Leonhart as well." Noctis countered.

"Listen here, brat, just get out of way already!" Jihl snapped. "I don't need you ruining everything!" She slammed her hands on the table, causing her long blonde hair to cascade over her shoulder.

Unabashed, Lightning chuckled at Jihl's behavior. Picking up a piece of paper, she looked at Noctis and wrote, "_Just go, I'll be fine." _

Despite Lightning's reassuring smile, Noctis' gut was telling him otherwise. After a moments hesitation, he finally agreed and left.

"Finally. Alright then, Apathetic Princess." Jihl sat across from her. "Let's begin." A taunting smirk brought Jihl's lips upward.

Unamused with her taunt, Lighting merely sat back and glared at her long hated nurse. As if Jihl would try anything in a room filled with people; Lightning knew that Jihl's dislike of her was akin to her own hatred for her, but Jihl would have to be daft to try something here.

Almost thirty minutes had past since Noctis lift Lightning with Jihl. His gut was still bothering him, telling him that something awful was about to happen, and it was only getting worse with each passing minute. He looked over his shoulder again at Lightning and Jihl. Something didn't seem right … Lightning was uncharacteristically stiff and had her sight locked on the table before her. He quickly looked at Jihl whom seemed to be calmly talking to Lightning, seemingly going through the lessons.

Noctis looked away and at the dull building blocks that were before him. Something was wrong … it wasn't only his gut telling him, but it was in the air … something was going to happen. Hope said something that he didn't catch, but he went back to working on Hope's Light Tower.

As he played with make-believe with Hope and a now calmed down Vanille, a sudden scream from Jihl broke the random chatter from the other patients and engulfed the lounge in a hushed silence. "I said calm down, Claire!"

_Shit … I knew I shouldn't have left her alone!_ Noctis thought and immediately drew his attention from Hope and Vanille and back toward Jihl and Lightning.

The table was now knocked over and papers were scattered everywhere, as Lightning stood in front of Jihl with a murderous expression locked on her face as she glared at Jihl, her fists clenched at her sides. Slowly, as she began to advance toward the nurse, Noctis got another sick feeling in his gut and quickly got to his feet. "Vanille, watch Hope and stay back." Vanille nodded at his order and grabbed Hope's hand. Noctis ran as fast as he could toward Lightning, trying not to bump into people in process.

"Wait, what's going on?" Hope cried as he tried to advance, but Vanille held him back. She knew full well what was going to happen next. She prayed to Etro that no one was going to get hurt like last time.

In a matter of seconds, Noctis reached where Lightning was but was stopped by a couple guards who grabbed him by the arms. Even though the guards were taller than him, Noctis could see past them. Lightning was breathing deeply, trying to calm herself down, but was having a rather difficult time trying to.

"Please, Claire, we don't have to do this. Think about your sister … your only family … If you keep this up, you know where you're going, don't you, Claire?" Jihl's voice was filled with venom.

Slowly, Lightning walked towards Jihl, her glare never faltering. "Y-y-you …"

Stunned, a soft gasp escaped from Noctis as his eyes widen. "She-she spoke …" This stunned not only him, but the other patients around him. The guards that blocked his way also faltered, loosening their grip on his arms.

"My, my! Aren't we're trying hard now?" Taunted Jihl. She slowly rose from her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "Tell me, Claire, why are you here? What's gotten you so riled up over such a small matter as your family?"

Lightning clenched her fists tighter, her nails digging into rosy skin as she tried to hold back the surge of emotions that she felt. She quickly scanned her surroundings. About five guards would try and stop her if she tried anything against Jihl. Lightning clicked her tongue and smirked. That was two more than the last time that she tried to advance on Jihl.

"Is it because your parents are no longer here? Tell me, Claire, is it because your pathetic sister can't remember what happened, that she can't remember the reason why you're here …?" Jihl's voice was vilely apathetic.

As stray strands of strawberry-blonde hair fell over Lightning's eyes, she stood up straight with her fists at her sides. Her once sorrowful, icy-blue eyes were now filled with a terrible wrath that threatened to overcome the girl.

He wanted to stop Lightning and he wanted to smack Jihl across the face to get her to shut the hell up, but Noctis stayed quiet, rooted the floor. No matter how hard he tried to move, no matter how many times his brain told his legs to move, they wouldn't listen to his commands. All he could do was stand there helpless.

What happened next was all a blur, a big transparent blur. The two guards that were blocking his path were suddenly on either side of Lightning firmly holding her arms in place as another begin to approach her with a rather large needle. Then, something flashed in her eyes and Lightning yanked one of the guards toward her and head-butted him, causing him to release her as he fell unconscious. Before the other guard could react and with one of her arms free, Lighting brought her fist back and swung, landing a hard right hook on the other guard's jaw and sent him flying back a few feet to land unconscious at Noctis' feet.

Shocked at the scene unfolding before him, Noctis took a few steps back. Everything was unfolding too fast, all the training that he went through to prepare him for something like this suddenly went out of the widow. Could it be because Lightning - who looked tough, certainly "talked" tough, and acted tough – was proving that she wasn't just all talk and no bite? At all once he found himself awestruck and horrified ... he felt numb even. His sight was locked on Lightning while in the background he could hear the cries of Hope and Vanille, though he couldn't make out what they were saying; the frantic calls of other supervisors among the cheers of the many patients in the room.

Noctis was still dumbfounded that Lightning had bypassed four of the five guards who were nearly twice her size and certainly looked stronger than she was, that a mere high school girl had gotten passed four well-trained men. This wasn't good ... Hell, none of this was good ... But yet there he was still standing there, helplessly watching her fight. Noctis opened his mouth to try to say something … anything at all, but he found that his voice had also left him, leaving him mute for the moment. Is this what it felt like for her? To have a voice but not being able to speak what she felt?

As the fifth one fell, a sickening feeling rushed up Noctis' spine as he watched while Lightning slowly advanced towards Jihl. Her fists and even parts of her face had blood smeared over them, as did her white clothing. A shocked gasp escaped from Noctis, she'd hurt the guards beyond anything that he thought that Lightning could do. A wave of nausea overcame Noctis and he felt like falling to his knees.

"Noctis! Do something! Lightning's going to murder Jihl!" Vanille cried and shook him by the shoulders. "Wake up! Please do something!"

She began to bring her hand back to slap him but then Hope pushed her out of the way and placed his hands on Noctis' shoulders. "Nocty! Stop Lightning! If she hurts Jihl, they're gonna lock her up in the bad place!"

The desperation that rang on Hope's voice caused Noctis to focus on his blue eyes. The poor boy was scared out of his wits. "_If Lightning hurts Jihl, they're gonna lock her up in the bad place!"_ That caused something to click inside of his head. Blinking, he looked at Hope who had tears coming out of his eyes.

"_Claire_! Stop! Stop it now!" Jihl yelled. "Enough! You've done enough!"

Noctis shifted his eyes to Vanille and nodded. The teen wrapped her arms around Hope and turned him away from the ghastly scene. "You've got to help her, Noctis, before it's too late!"

"I know ..." Without another word, he hastily got up and moved toward Lightning's right side and grabbed her wrist. But no sooner than he had grabbed her, he was knocked down by a strong left hook to his gut. Stumbling backward, he clutched his stomach and spat out saliva. Man did that ever hurt like a son-of-a-bitch! Fighting through the almost blinding pain, Noctis' training kicked in. He had to help Lightning … because that bad place that Hope told him about … Noctis knew if Lightning was sent there, it would be next to impossible for her to get released. He got back up and approached Lightning from behind and wrapped his arms around her. "Enough! Please-!" He was cut off when Lightning suddenly threw her head back, trying to head-butt him to get him off of her.

Without much of a hassle, Noctis shifted his body weight and swung them around, throwing Lightning off balance and caused her to – thankfully – miss his head. Lighting looked back at him, her eyes were burning with a terrible rage. "No," she simply stated. She tried to push him back once more, but Noctis lifted her off of her feet.

If it wasn't for that fact that she was about to beat Jihl from head to toe, he would have been more shocked about the fact that she was talking, but that wasn't case. "I don't want to sedate you! Now stop!" He yelled and tightened his grip. "_Please._"

Lightning scowled. "No."

Noctis, without thinking, swung them around and shoved her to the ground. Before she could even move, he got on top of her, placed a knee onto the middle of her back, and pressed her wrists against the floor hard. Lighting, however, wasn't about to go down with out a fight. She tried wiggling out of his grasp, which caused him to use more strength than what he wanted to. "Please stop, Lightning. Please …" He silently begged.

Suddenly, Lightning screamed. But it wasn't a rage filled scream, this scream was let out in pain ... a great deal of pain by the sound of it. Noctis flinched, slightly scared … Had he used too much strength? Did he unintentionally hurt her? He loosened his grip a bit when Lightning screamed and tears began to roll down the sides of her face. "Help me …"

Noctis gasped. "What?"

"H-h-hurts … Help me … please help …" She choked a sob. "Hurts … too much … pain …" Then her body fell limp. Alarmed, Noctis quickly got off her and gathered up her motionless form in his arms.

"Lightning! Light, where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere ... Please help-" Before she could finish the sentence, her head fell back and her eyelids closed.

Noctis felt panic slowly beginning to take a hold of him. There was no way he could have done … Then it hit him … her pain disorder. "Shit! Jihl! Call Dr. Leonhart!" He looked over his shoulder to give the order again, but his eyes widened when he saw Jihl idly standing by with a dark smile on her face.

**To be continued in chapter four ...**

**Note from the beta:** Sephiroth Owa13 (AKA Sefira 13) here, sorry for the wait on this ... I've had this for little over a week and only recently got this done. All I can say is sorry for the wait. It's hard to even beta with a writers block ... Also, I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in this. I try to correct any grammar errors that I spot, but since I think of myself as more a person who gives suggestions to _nicegal_ than an actual beta, because I need a beta for my own writing, mistakes will find their way in. So all I can say is sorry and that _nicegal_ and I human. For those of who you don't know who Ulmia and Prishe are, they are NPCs from Final Fantasy XI.

A/N: Well, what do u think? Inform me if there are any mistakes :D Thanks for reading!


End file.
